Movie Runway 34: Ajay Devgn Gives a New Bollywood Treat in a Fairly Gripping Drama!

In all my Bollywood, read Hindi movies, viewing experience this should be the first movie with a serious attempt to deal with an air disaster or a possible air disaster, a genre that the commercial Hindi films never really tried to explore barring a few on plane hijack, most prominently the intense drama of Neerja (2016) based on a real-life brave air hostess. The movie Runway 34, also loosely based on true incidents and released on the occasion of Eid in April-end this year, tells the story of a flight from Dubai to Cochin that entered the vortex of a raging cyclone nearly crash-landing in the Trivandrum airport with 150 passengers on board, and then followed by the grueling investigation into the near-crash. The first half of the film dwells entirely on the flight starting at the wee hours from Dubai and is a gripping saga of what happened on its course from the takeoff onward, told with the required details and intensity that are always missing in most commercial Bollywood movies. However, as per some traditionally cherished ingredients of a typical Hindi movie we get treated with a background song during the climax of the flight landing, instead of making it a memorable one with the main pilot Captain Vikrant Khanna (Ajay Devgn) steering the plane to a landing on his chosen Runway-34, blindfolded and with an unlit cigarette on his lips. There are bound to be more of the kind as we move on; but the first half indeed makes this movie immensely watchable.

 

Ajay Devgn, one of the most intense and powerhouse actors of Bollywood, also makes his first successful film as a director after two pathetic attempts in the past. His firm, Ajay Devgn FFilms, is also the producer of this film. With an admired and adored superstar hero at the helm of all possible affairs of this movie, particularly as the Captain in the cockpit too, we’re bound to confront more and more of the cherished values rampant in a big Bollywood production. However, despite this overpowering fact in fiction, the likes of the superstar of the millennium, Amitabh Bachchan, were strictly kept under wraps, perhaps as a surprise package for the viewers, as he appears out of nowhere and takes full charge of the second half. Before we go to him let’s take note of the ‘cherished values’ we’ve talked about.

 

Rated as one of the best pilots of the country who is admired as respected as a hero by all in the airline industry, Vikrant Khanna seems to be doing all the wrongs things, right from the beginning. In the night before his flight he goes to a party to join a friend, does all kinds of mischief and hardly sleeps during the night; he lies to his doting wife Sumaira (played by Akanksha Singh) in Cochin with their daughter’s birthday coming up the next day; he behaves rather arrogantly with his co-pilot Tanya Albuquerque (played by Rakul Preet Singh) and shows off disdainfully during the pre-flight briefing; he tries to smoke everywhere possible, but scoffs with a refrain ‘Haven’t lighted it yet, right?’ to the reminders in the no-smoking zones; during the flight, when alerted of inclement weather in Cochin, Vikrant ignores Tanya’s suggestion of diverting to Bangalore and makes the near-fatal mistake of trying to land in the mouth of the cyclone in Trivandrum. Nonetheless, Vikrant is played by none other than Ajay Devgn, and therefore, despite all the shortcomings he must emerge as a hero at the end. This brings us to the second half and to Amitabh Bachchan.  

 

In the role of a dedicated air-accident investigator Narayan Vedant, Amitabh Bachchan was expected to put in more intensity and drama into the story; but unfortunately, despite being the superstar of the millennium and a craze for character roles since 2000 he fails to uplift the movie. This has several reasons: firstly, he’s grilling Vikrant, played by none other than the superhero Ajay Devgn, and naturally Vikrant has to emerge as the ultimate hero here too, for the obvious need of having the empathy of the viewers; secondly, thanks to the first reason, the most crucial details like the advice of the co-pilot are brushed under the carpet, with the supposedly honest-dedicated investigator not caring a damn for those links; thirdly, his techniques seem to be more like a cunning lawyer in a normal courtroom, instead of being a technically-proficient air-accident professional; and the owner of Vikrant’s airliner, Nishant Suri (played by Boman Irani) is shown to be only indulging in clichés. As a result, the second half of an otherwise gripping drama falls flat and disappoints the audience sorely.

 

I don’t want to give spoilers’ alert here and so cannot disclose the intricate details involved in the final emergence of Vikrant as the ultimate hero. Unfortunately, all these have cost the movie dearly as it’s flopped at the box-office, failing to recover even half of its budget. Such ambitious, sincere and new-genre movies should never fail like this. It’s said that the movie is inspired by, naturally enough for a new Bollywood genre experiment, by several Hollywood movies on air disasters. However, if it’s inspired it should be inspired enough to not indulge in the traditional Hindish ingredients and do a real inspired job. Rakul Preet Singh and Boman Irani have done very well in the limited roles assigned to them. Amitabh Bachchan too seems to have suffered from the limitations of the role assigned. And of course, not to forget at all, Ajay Devgn delivers a powerhouse performance yet again to make the movie watchable, even if it amounts to only because of him.

Ram Gopal Varma: A Humble Status Enquiry Please!

Why should any film director, let him/her be a seriously famous or crass commercial maker, make a movie like the ’12 O’ Clock’ (2021) while still in the right frame of mind? I’m saying so because the film, placed in the ‘horror’ genre, is ludicrously absurd, inadvertently funny and with superimposed superficial characters. The angst of the viewers is particularly aggravated if that filmmaker happens to be an era-defining and a prolific one for over three decades. I cannot restrain myself from quoting the Hindi teaser that goes like this, ‘Tera barah baj gaya kya?’ (Have you got done with it?) while avoiding the Sardar jokes associated with the ’12 o’ clock’ phenomenon. Mind you, I’m far from trying to be offensive or insulting in any possible manner for I’ve been a devout admirer of the filmmaker since the 90s. As the title suggests I’m just asking as to what may have been happening with him in the recent years. However, it’s a far cry as regards the remotest possibility of this piece ever reaching him.

 

No doubt, the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma who has almost been institutionalized and iconized as RGV in the new-age Indian Cinema has been a hypercreative and restless celluloid creator regularly shifting from genre to genre and relentlessly experimenting with avant-garde traditions, parallel cinema tenets, seriously song-less commercial ventures and also docudrama. Hailing from the Telugu film industry Ram Gopal Varma burst into the Hindi film industry or Bollywood with his epochal crime thriller ‘Shiva’ (1990) which was a remake of his Telugu masterpiece ‘Siva’ (1989). Moviegoers including this writer had been fascinated with his fresh new techniques in photography and use of realistic background audio combined with the introduction of the Steadicam for the first time in Indian cinema. Very soon, he was hailed as an Indian filmmaker of the neo-noir genre with his ‘Drohi’ in 1992 which was a bilingual movie in Telugu and Hindi.

 

True to his restless nature, RGV did not stick to his richly acquired genre of noir and shifted to the horror one with ‘Raat’ in which was also a bilingual production in the same year. Perhaps he was inspired by the archaic Ramsay kind of horror movies in India and made a new effort to change the concept permanently with jump scares, moving camera and the amplified use of the audio while avoiding the omnipresent grotesque monsters. Then in 1995 he again shifted to the romantic comedy genre with his unforgettable ‘Rangeela’ starring Aamir Khan and Urmila Matondkar, the latter heroine becoming a permanent feature in most of his later movies. In this super-duper blockbuster music director AR Rahman made his Hindi debut and won awards. In the interlude 1992-1995 Varma went on with his Telugu movies. Then sticking to the comedy genre combined with road adventure he made ‘Daud’ (run) starring Sanjay Dutt and Urmila in 1997 which is a remake of his Telugu cult classic of 1991. ‘Daud’ was an average hit with mixed reviews. This brings us to another characteristic of this filmmaker.

 

Apart from his ‘creative and experimentalist restlessness’ RGV is also like a cricketer who is often in full form and the next day he is out of form. His movies truly reflect this throughout the last three decades.

 

In 1998 he switched to the Gangster genre with his era-defining ‘Satya’ starring Urmila and Chakravarthy, and successfully created his Gangster trilogy with ‘Company’ (2002) and ‘D’ (2005). ‘Satya’ earned him international acclaim crowning him with the creator of Mumbai Noir as the movies of the trilogy brought out the layers of the Mumbai underworld. British filmmaker Danny Boyle cited the influences of ‘Satya’ and ‘Company’ in the making of his Academy Award winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (2008). RGV was also featured in BBC World Series ‘Bollywood Bosses’ in 2004. Both ‘Satya’ and ‘Company’—the latter starring Ajay Devgan and Manisha Koirala—won him many Filmfare nominations and awards. As the cricketer in and out of form RGV was somewhat out of form in third movie of the trilogy ‘D’, and as per latest reports he is trying to bring out another sequel or prequel ‘D Company’. In the same year of 1998, he combined with Mani Rathnam to produce the memorable ‘Dil Se’.

 

In between, the restless creator shifted to the political thriller genre producing the critically acclaimed ‘Shool’ (Spike) (1999) that earned him a National Award for the Best Script. In the same year he experimented with a psychological thriller ‘Kaun’ filmed in just one house and with only three characters, namely Urmila and Manoj Bajpayee. In 2005 he seriously concentrated on the political thriller genre and created another trilogy, starting with the Godfatheresque ‘Sarkar’ (2005) starring Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek which was a huge commercial success as well as critically acclaimed. Again, he started losing his form somewhat in ‘Sarkar Raj’ (2008) and lost it more in ‘Sarkar-3’ (2017).   

 

Of course, he never forgot his ‘horror’ genre and made a commercially successful ‘Bhoot’ (Ghost) in 2003, following it up in the same year with ‘Darna Mana Hai’ (fear is forbidden) and ‘Darna Zaroori Hai’ (fear is necessary) in 2006. In the year of 2003, he also produced a psychological thriller ‘Ek Hasina Thi’ (there was a girl) starring Urmila and anti-hero Saif Ali Khan. In 2004 he produced a suspense-crime flick ‘Ab Tak Chappan’ (so far 56) on an encounter specialist played brutally by Nana Patekar. He also returned to the horror genre with ‘Phoonk’ (Blow) in 2008 and this was perhaps the last superhit of RGV. Unfortunately, since then the RGV movies have been able to get only mixed to negative reviews except the absorbing political thriller ‘Rann’ in 2010 starring Amitabh Bachchan. The same year his ‘Rakta Charitra’ double-header reminded viewers including this writer prominently mostly of gore and violence portrayed in C-grade Hindi commercial masala movies.

 

His mistakes have contributed to his being consistently out of form since at least 2010: the mistake of trying to do a remake of the classic ‘Sholay’ that landed him in controversy and he went ahead still with a ridiculous title of ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’ (the fire of RGV); his misconceived notions of remaking the evergreens ‘Shiva’, ‘Satya’ and ‘Bhoot’; and so on. His supposed docudrama ‘The Attacks of 26/11’ (2013) failed to portray the intensity of the frightening Mumbai terror attack. In fact, the recent Amazon web series ‘Mumbai Diaries 26/11’ from a medical point of view is more engrossing as well as realistic.

 

Every filmmaker has his/her ups and downs, hits and flops as we’ve tried to narrate in the case of this iconic filmmaker of India who is apparently like the volatile cricketer. However, nothing of this justifies his making of the ’12 O Clock’ movie. Thanks to some Hollywood horror epics we know very well the phenomena of ‘possession and exorcism’. But in this film, this phenomenon has been turned grotesquely on its head without any explanation.

 

A stalwart theater-cinema actor Makarand Deshpande who has also featured in many of RGV movies has been reduced to a mockery of a character that emotes without conviction. Veteran Bollywood hero Mithun Chakraborty, also roped in as psychiatrist (the character pronounces it as ‘psychiatric’!), does not know what to do most of the times. The supposed exorcist played by Ashish Vidyarthi, before he could offer a solution, gets killed in his own house by the remote-controlling ghost of a psycho serial killer who possessed Makarand’s daughter Gauri. Manav Kaul and Dalip Tahil as cops are entirely wasted. RGV’s final solution to the problem is as horrendously absurd and laughable as the entire movie is inadvertently funny. I had the misfortune of watching this movie because of the RGV tag and that it was available on a streaming platform. 

 

Of course, Ram Gopal Varma retains his techno-savvy touches, movements and an appropriately effective background music, but is lacking mostly in the story development department. We hope this ever-creative director regain his form like Virat Kohli and bring back his magic in the near future. 

Irrfan Khan Dies in Mumbai: Huge Tragedy in the Time of Coronavirus

Irrfan Khan, a powerhouse of incredible acting talent, passed away in a Mumbai hospital today morning leaving a vacuum in the Hindi film industry, a loss irreparable. He was only 53, and had so much to offer to the film lovers yet.  There was disturbing news circulating in 2018 about Irrfan contracting a serious disease which, after months of distressed speculation, was confirmed as neuro-endocrine tumor, one of the rarest forms of cancer. Since then he was fighting, fighting and fighting. He got treatment in the US and then in London for months. He returned to India a few months back, and could not take part in the promotion of his last movie, Angrezi (English) Medium, and the movie too could not be released due to the nation-wide lockdown. More saddening, he lost his mother only a few days back and could not attend her last rites in Jaipur, again due to the lockdown. Irrfan’s demise is a huge tragedy to strike when the country is reeling under Coronavirus and lockdown.

The highlight of his 32-year career in the film industry was the incredibly varied roles and characters he played in Bollywood movies, and also in Hollywood and British productions. Keeping in mind the versatility of his acting prowess roles were written for him that can be compared only to that of Amitabh Bachchan in the latter's post-2000 career; the ultimate crowning glory for an actor. And most importantly, Irrfan Khan was never a modern hero of Bollywood in terms of the desired attributes: handsome, tall, powerfully built with preferably body-building obsession, fighting and dancing abilities and so on. He never danced around the trees chasing the heroines. And yet, he played hero, protagonists in numerous movies—both mainstream and commercial, endearing himself to all types of moviegoers of the country. He did every kind of role, living the characters, with his typical matter-of-fact acting and a unique casual style of dialogue delivery.

Irrfan with Tabu for The Namesake

Irrfan Khan started his career in 1988 with a small role in the highly acclaimed ‘Salaam Bombay’ and after that had years of struggle trying to establish himself through various roles in mostly off-beat films. The final recognition as an exceptionally talented actor came with his two films, ‘Haasil’ (2003) for which he got the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in a negative role and the internationally acclaimed ‘Maqbool’ (2004). He never looked back since then.  One outstanding film that comes to the mind is ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ (2011) in which he played the title character and won the National Award for Best Actor. It was followed by stupendously realistic movies like ‘Lunch Box’ (2013), ‘Piku’ (2015) and ‘Talvar’ (2015), and also Hollywood movies, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ (2012), ‘Life of Pi’ (2012), ‘Jurassic World’ (2015) and ‘Inferno’ (2016). His comedy-drama ‘Hindi Medium’ (2017) became the highest grossing movie of his career giving him another Filmfare Award for Best Actor, and the release of the sequel ‘Angrezi Medium’, Irrfan’s last performance, had to be postponed as we mentioned earlier. Although Irrfan mostly played serious intense characters his comic timing was also established in movies like ‘Piku’ and ‘Hindi Medium’. He was awarded ‘Padma Shri’, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor, in 2011.

During the last two years not many of his movies were running in the theaters which makes our hearts cry now, for missing his powerful screen portrayals; however, as a consolation, his lovable movies like ‘Billu’ (2009), ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Hindi Medium’, ‘Piku’, ‘Talvar’, ‘Jazbaa’ (2015) and so on were being constantly shown across the small screens of the movie channels. In his personal life he was a devout loving husband and a caring father, leaving behind his co-actor wife and two sons.

As the film fraternity of India and international admirers shower an unending stream of messages of shock, anguish and condolences we deeply mourn Irrfan Khan’s untimely demise and pray for the eternal bliss of his soul. One of the finest actors of all time, Irrfan Khan will live on in our hearts, forever. His painful struggle hoping against hope symbolizes what planet earth is going through at this moment—uncertainty looming large over every field of activity including the film industry all over the globe. Filmography:

Movies: Legendary Bollywood Villain Pran Gets Dadasaheb Phalke Award!

Pran—a name that terrorized us as little kids; a name that we loved to adore as we grew older and a name that has remained with us till now and forever. We were struck with awe by his villainous portrayals and yet we could not stop liking him—his gait, his style of talking, his looks, his smart dress code and the eternal cigarette in his hands. That time we were not capable of judging him as an actor, but the way he kept us spellbound was only due to his intensely powerful and effective performances. Since we loved him so much even as a villain we longed to see him as a good guy on the side of the fighting-for-truth hero. And, we got that hugely satisfying and gratifying experience too.

Pran Krishan Sikand (born 1920) turned 93 in February this year and yesterday, the 12^thof April, 2013, he was chosen for the supreme honour of Indian cinema—the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2012. Maybe a little late as the classic Bollywood actor is almost unable to walk around or talk articulately. But, never too late. As a media person I tried to capture his expressions and possibly his byte on camera on this momentous occasion by all means, but was advised against it by his closest kin. Quite understandable.  The superstar of the millennium Amitabh Bachchan responded immediately to speak on phone about the legendary villain of the millennium. Incidentally, in most of the 15 movies Amitabh acted with Pran the legendary villain invariably played the good guy or bad guy turned good roles. Some of these movies were runaway hits as we cherished two great superstars—one as the super hero and the other as the staunch and unflinching supporter.

In his six decade long film career Pran never had a low. Hits and super-hits followed him from the early forties to the late nineties. He had been the typical villain with all the classic heroes of those times—Sunil Dutt, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor. For our generation a few of the most memorable movies of Pran as a villain that we watched much later were Gumnaam (1965), Ram Aur Shyam(1967), An Evening In Paris (1967), Sadhu Aur Shaitaan (1968) and as late as in 1983 in Andha Kanoon (with Amitabh Bachchan) where Pran played a villain still as lethal . In between he played one or two odd positive roles. 

However, his landmark positive role came in Manoj Kumar’s Upkar (1967) when his prowess in a strong supporting role got noticed. And then, Zanjeer (1973) happened.

In Zanjeerwe had the best of both worlds. We accepted the new angry superhero Amitabh Bachchan who became a household name after this movie. We were overwhelmed by the strong supporting role as the hero’s aide by Pran. For the first time we had two superstars fighting for a common cause—our cause rather considering how emotional and impulsive we were. In fact, Pran recommended Amitabh in the hero’s role for this blockbuster, and the close association between the two superstars that started then never ceased. In the late nineties when Amitabh was going through a crisis Pran helped the Big B by agreeing to act in two movies with him despite his deteriorating health.

We congratulate the perfect villain cum Robin Hood on screen and the perfect, soft spoken and amiable gentleman off screen, Pran Saheb, for this great honour that finally recognized his immense contribution to Indian cinema. He has won many other laurels and awards throughout his career, but this supreme honour just proves again how much he is still loved by people of all ages and walks of life. We hope he will have good health soon and will receive the Award in full flow and in full glow. We salute the great actor.

Big B Gets His Cutest B!

Article first published as Now Showing the Celebrity Baby! on Technorati.

Yesterday early morning Aishwarya Rai went into labor and delivered a baby girl just before 10am. There was no maddening breaking news everywhere in the media. The Bachchan family wanted it to happen personally and it eventually went like that only with the news personally given in the internet. Today morning Amitabh Bachchan thanked the media for the restraint and understanding shown. 

The  proud father, Abhishek Bachchan informed all the baby was fine and doing very well. Big B who has become granddad now described the celebrity baby as the cutest one. 

Read More...

Big B and King Khan in Kaun Banega Crorepati!

Amitabh Bachchan, the host of the current version of Kaun Banega Crorepati, invited Shahrukh King Khan for a special show yesterday, the 20th of October, 2011. Running for nearly two hours the show had everything the great Twosome was capable of delivering, acting, enacting and just talking. 

Basically King Khan came to the show as a publicity stunt for his forthcoming science fiction movie Ra..0ne (meaning Random Access-Version 1.0). But once on the hot seat one has to play. And, Shahrukh played on with his customary wit and presence of mind matched equally point to point by Big B and won 5 million rupees for charity. The invited audience had a treat of lifetime seeing two huge favorites playing it out right before them. 

They taunted each other, made jibes at each other and also exchanged seats for brief while. Shahrukh even walked up to Big B and massaged his back trying to catch a view of the host's monitor screen while telling how the massage eases up tension to play the game better! The issue of Shahrukh hosting the show once also came up with King Khan at his humble best apologizing for the audacity! He invariably addressed Big B as 'Sir' all the time. This is worth noting that the legend is always addressed as 'Sir' by anyone coming in contact--irrespective of whether s/he belongs to film fraternity or to the cultivating profession.

It was a fun-filled episode anyone could have enjoyed to his/her heart's content. The channel producers definitely knew the marketing potential of such a show! 

You may like to read a related article here...

Desperately Seeking Amitabh Bachchan !

The superstar of the millennium is shining bright, as ever. From hair oil to cricket to politics the name of Amitabh Bachchan has become synonymous with success. Anybody launching anything needs him to succeed. 

When he was growing a little old there was brief stopover in his success graph in the early nineties. But 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' made him roar back to mainstream.

Everybody understood how much Amitabh Bachchan was loved adored and respected by one and all and in all fields of activities. His growing age was a challenge accepted by the producers, the directors, the advertisers, the industrialists and the politicians 

Indian films began to be centered on him and his age, and special protagonist or even antagonistic roles were created to fit his age. The channel producers wanted him to launch their reality shows or events or even serial. The advertisers wanted him for every product to ensure its popularity. The superstar was a must for any launch of any service or business or event. Cricket organizers needed him to double the impact. The governments wanted him in all significant events and functions. The political parties craved for his favors and indulged in childish fights over him. One Indian state made him the brand ambassador to highlight its developmental initiative and other states cried in helpless frustration. And, the Indian crowds just loved wherever they saw him. 

Amitabh Bachchan was honored with his fourth National Award as the Best Actor by the government of India in 2010 for the film called ‘Paa’ (2009) where he played the role of an intelligent witty 12-year-old boy, Auro, with an extremely rare genetic defect called the progeria syndrome meaning prematurely old or with symptoms of aging making one look five times older than s/he actually is.

T20 cricket was supposed to be the most popular form of cricket after the success of Indian Premier League, but even then the cricket management wanted Amitabh Bachchan to promote the Champions League T20 in South Africa, 2010.

Amitabh Bachchan—the legend lives on.

Look Before You...Invite Amitabh Bachchan!

You invite a celebrity because s/he is a celebrity. Because s/he has accomplishments to make you proud and to add grace to your event.

No longer valid in India that is wonder. Just don't even bother about her/his national or international acclaim. Just concentrate on which caste s/he is born with, which religion s/he adheres to, which language s/he speaks and what are her/his political affiliations. Have the final assessment based on these parameters and decide whether to invite or not to invite.

As the Bandra-Worli Sea Link event controversy in Mumbai still rages on you must put things in focus.

Political parties in India always talk about national integration, but when it comes to integrity they bother only about their own party priorities. They stop recognizing the existence of different states within the wonder that is India, the existence of different languages, cultures or religions, the existence of the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and opinion and event the concept of 'unity' in 'diversity'.

Even within families there may be difference in relation to the above parameters. Now, you can prevent a brother from attending his sister's marriage ceremony or vice versa, prevent husband from supporting his wife, separate parents from son or daughter, divide friends from friends, put ambiguous murky darkness over the concept of 'enemy'; if one or more parameters are not fulfilled.

LOOK BEFORE YOU....!